UNIT V (Europe 1789-1815):
The French Revolution and Napoleon
REVIEW GUIDES:
AP Achiever: Chapter 10--The French Revolution and Napoleonic Era 1789—1815
Modern European History: Chapter 14—the French Revolution
Chapter 15—Napoleon, France, and Europe
Chapter 16—the Congress of Vienna
Date Due:
section 41: Backgrounds
1. In what ways did the legal division of society under the Old Regime fail to reflect actual political and social
conditions in France? What observations may be made about the existing property system?
2. Describe the changes taking place in both the nobility and the bourgeoisie prior to the Revolution. How did
these changes contribute to the Revolution?
3. How did the political unity of France contribute to the Revolution?
4. Describe the condition of the 3rd Estate below the commercial and professional families?
Date Due:
section 42: the Revolution and the Reorganization of France
1. How did the financial crisis facing the French government lead to revolution?
2. What special circumstances created hardship for the lower classes. How did lower class unrest affect the
decisions made by the National Assembly?
3. How did the Constituent Assembly overhaul the institutions of the Old Regime?
4. Assess the system of government established by the Constitution of 1791.
5. Describe the legislation introduced by the Constituent Assembly with respect to a)public finances
b)church lands c)guilds and other labor organizations
6. Discuss the nature and the consequences of the religious measures adopted by the Constituent Assembly.
McKay pages 796-798, and pages 802-810 (begin at The American Revolution’s Impact on Europe, stop at
World War and Republican France)
Date Due:
section 43: The Revolution and Europe--The War and the “Second” Revolution (1792)
McKay pp. 810-813 (stop at Total War and the Terror)
1. What were the reactions of the various European governments to the revolutionary events in France?
2. How did the Declaration of Pillnitz affect developments in France? Which groups within France wanted war,
and why?
3. Why were peasants and urban workers dissatisfied with the course of events and the progress of the
Revolution so far?
4. Why may the insurrection of August 10, 1792, be called the “second” French Revolution?
Date Due:
section 44: The Emergency Republic and the Terror (1792-1795)
McKay pp. 813-815 (stop at Thermidorian Reaction)
1. What relationship was there between French military expansion and the spread of the Revolution? How did
the European powers resist, and why did they have trouble uniting against France?
2. Explain the political division that developed inside the Convention. What policies did the Mountain
represent?
3. Of what significance was the execution of the king and the insurrection of May 31, 1793?
4. Discuss the problems and difficulties faced by the Convention in the spring of 1793. What program did it
follow? With what results?
5. Describe the events and significance of 9 Thermidor. What developments took place in the months that
followed?
Date Due:
section 45: The Constitutional Republic--The Directory
McKay pp. 815-816
1. How would you characterize the nature of the Directory? From what sources did it face opposition?
2. Why might Napoleon have been disturbed by the elections of 1797?
3. How did the coup d’ état of Fructidor affect the peace negotiations that were going on? Of what significance
was the peace treaty that was being signed?
4. Discuss the military and political circumstances that prepared the way for Napoleon’s seizure of power.
Date Due:
section 46: The Authoritarian Republic--The Consulate (1799-1804)
McKay pp. 817-818
1. What kind of government system was set up under the Consulate? Where did real authority reside?
2. Describe and evaluate the significance of the major reforms introduced by Napoleon in a)law and
administration b)public finance and administration c)church/state relations
3. How would you summarize the major accomplishments of the Revolution by the end of the Consulate? In
what ways had the Revolution strengthened France? How did the governments of Europe regard Napoleon?
Date Due:
section 47: The Formation of the French Imperial System
1. What general observations may be made about internal changes in the European countries in the years of
Napoleon’s ascendancy.
2. How and why did the First and Second Coalitions against Napoleon break up?
3. Of what significance was the treaty of Amiens? How did Napoleon’s policies provoke the formation of the
Third Coalition, and what was the outcome?
4. Why did the attitudes and policies of Alexander I puzzle and disturb his contemporaries? In what sense was
the treaty of Tilsit the high point of Napoleon’s success, and why did he eventually have a falling out with
Alexander I?
5. Explain the origins, purpose, and nature of Napoleon’s Continental System.
Date Due:
section 48: The Grand Empire--Spread of the Revolution
1. Explain the government and administration of the French empire and of the Grand Empire. How did
Napoleon use his family as a means of rule?
2. What justification is there for considering Napoleon a reformer and a man of the Enlightenment. In what
sense were the main principles of the French Revolution spread throughout Europe by Napoleon.
Date Due:
section 49: The Continental System--Britain and Europe
1. Describe Napoleon’s efforts to find a basis other than force to bring about the unification of Europe. How did
he hope to exploit existing attitudes towards Great Britain?
2. Explain the objective of Napoleon’s Continental System with respect to the economy of Continental Europe.
3. What were the chief reasons for the failure of the Continental System? What effect did it have as a shortrange measure?
Date Due:
section 50: The National Movements--Germany
McKay pp. 819-823
1. Of what significance was the Napoleonic age for the development of nationalism? What different forms did
nationalist feelings take?
2. Describe the growth of German nationalism after about 1780. How did ideas emerging from Germany differ
from characteristic ideals of the Enlightenment? (question 3 next page)
3. Describe the a)principle aims of the army reformers in Prussia and b)the political philosophy and reforms
of Baron Stein.
Date Due:
section 51: The Overthrow of Napoleon--The Congress of Vienna
McKay pp. 864-871 (stop at Radical Ideas and Early Socialism)
1. What factors made everything go wrong in Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812? How did Europe react to
Napoleon’s setback in Russia? (continued on next page)
2. Explain the nature of the “first” treaty of Paris. How would you summarize the issues facing Europe after the
defeat of Napoleon? (questions continued on next page)
3. At the Congress of Vienna, what attitudes were taken towards the peace settlement by a)Prussia b)Russia
c)Great Britain d)Austria. How was the dispute over Poland settled?
4. Why did so many of the French people rally to Napoleon upon his return? How did the allies react? (next
page)
5. How would you evaluate the accomplishments and failures of the Peace of Vienna? Why was the settlement a
disappointment to many?
UNIT V TERMS
Palmer section 41: Backgrounds
McKay pp. 802-804
terms:
1. Old Regime 2. The "Estates"
3. position of the church--pre 1789
4. position of the
nobility--pre 1789 5. bourgeoisie--pre 1789 6. commoners--pre 1789 7. agrarian
system
under the Old Regime 8. "eminent property"
9. the Revolution's effect on "property"
10. "feudal reaction" 11. French political unity--influence of the Revolution
Palmer section 42 : The Revolution and the Reorganization of France
McKay pp. 804-810
terms:
12. French debt 1788 13. Calonne's proposals 14. Loménie de Brienne
15. nobility
"initiating revolution" 1788
16. Abbé Sieyès 17. National Assembly 18. Oath of the
Tennis Court
19. economic problems:1788-1789 20. Bastille, July 14, 1789
21. Bastille's effect on the Revolution
22. "Great Fear" of 1789
23. Night of August 4
24. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
25. Olympe de Gouges 26. Count of
Artois 27. October 4, 1789
28. Jacobins 29. Constitution of 1789
30. "flight to
Varennes"
31. assignats
32. Civil Constitution of the Clergy 1790
33. "refractory
clergy"
34. "constitutional clergy"
Palmer section 43: The Revolution and Europe--War and the "Second Revolution"
McKay pp. 810-813
terms:
35. Declaration of Pilnitz 36. Girondins 37. Brunswick Manifesto
39. Mary Wollstonecraft
38. The Commune
Palmer section 44 : The Emergency Republic (1792-1795)
McKay pp. 813-815
terms:
40. National Convention 41. The Mountain (Montagnards) 42. sans-culottes
43. Robespierre 44. Committee of Public Safety
45. "The Terror" 46. Hebértists
47. de-Christianization 48. "Worship of the Supreme Being" 49. characteristics of the
French Republican Army
50. Thermidorian Reaction 51. nouveaux riches
Palmer section 45: The Constitutional Republic--The Directory
McKay pp. 815-816
terms:
52. Louis XVIII 53. Conspiracy of Equals 54. Napoleon Bonaparte 55. coup d' état of
Fructidor 56. Treaty of Campo Formio 57. "confidence from below--authority from
above" 58. coup d' état of Brumaire
Palmer section 46: The Despotic Republic and the Consulate
McKay pp. 817-818
terms:
59. Napoleon (continued) 60. Napoleon's constitution (1799)
61. Napoleon's concordat
with the Vatican 1801 62. Napoleon--administrative reforms 63. Napoleon--financial
reforms 64. Napoleon--legal reforms
Chapter X--Napoleonic Europe
Palmer section 47: The Formation of the French Imperial System
terms:
1. break up of the First Coalition 1795
2. break up if the Second Coalition 1799
3. Campo Formio
4. "shame of the princes"
5. Campo Formio--effect on the H.R.E.
6. Third Coalition
7. Alexander I
8. battle of Trafalgar (significance) 9. battle of
Austerlitz 10. Treaty of Pressburg 11. battles of Jena and Auerstädt
12. Napoleon and
Alexander--"conversation on the raft" 13. treaty of Tilsit
14. The Continental System
15. Capitulation at Baylen
16. Talleyrand 17. Clemens von Metternich 18. Maria
Louise
Palmer section 48: The Grand Empire--Spread of the Revolution
terms:
19. The Napoleonic domain (2 parts) 20. Confederation of the Rhine 21. Napoleon: 3
stages of spreading the Revolution
22. assault on feudalism--outside of France
Palmer section 49: The Continental System--Britain and Europe
terms:
23. Britain-European hostility towards 24. British blockade--goals 25. "modern
Carthage"
26. Continental System--purpose
27. Berlin Decree of 1807
28.
Britain's "order in council" 1807 29. Milan Decree 1807
30. failure of the Continental
System--reasons
Palmer section 50: The National Movements--Germany
McKay pp. 819-823
terms:
31. Napoleonic Wars--benefit to England 32. J.G. Herder--beliefs 33. Volkgeist (antiEnlightenment characteristics)
34. French Revolution--influences on Germany
35. "Father Jahn"
36. J.G. Fichte
37. Closed Commercial State
38. "Addresses to the
German Nation"
39. Prussia's "moral advantage" 40. Gneisenau
41. Baron Stein
42. Stein's "abolition of serfdom"
THURS 1/25
terms:
Palmer section 51: The Overthrow of Napoleon
43. Napoleon's Russia campaign--problems
44. Battle of Leipzig
45. "Frankfurt
Proposals" 1813 46. Viscount Castlereagh 47. treaty of Chaumont--Quadruple Alliance
48. Bourbon restoration--reasons 49. "Constitutional Charter" of Louis XVIII (provisions)
50. "first" Treaty of Paris
51. Polish-Saxon question
52. "Congress Poland"
53. Waterloo
54. "Holy Alliance"
55. Peace of Vienna-strong points 56. Peace of
Vienna--weak points